Leather-straightening machine



J B. HADAWAY. LEATHER STHMGHTENING MACHINE. v

APPLICATION FILED APILZO, 191B- Patented Sept. 5,' 1922;v

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Patent-ed Sept. 5, 1922. i

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PATENT OFMQE,

JOHN B. HAD-AWAY, F SWAM?SCOTT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COREORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEV] JERSEY.

LEATHER-STEAIGHTENING MACHINE.

Application filed April 20, 1918. Serial No. 229,741.

T 0 aZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN B. HADAWAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Swampscott, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Leather-Straightening Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to pounding machines and is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine for pounding wrinkled or bent pieces of sole leather to straighten them and to increase their density.

Certain portions of'the hide, such as necks and shins, are not suitable for use in the manufacture of boots and shoes until they have been given a special treatment. These pieces besides being thick and stiff are more or less bent, curled or wrinkled; and the :t'unction of the present machine is to straighten or flatten these pieces and at the same time to increase their density and thereby to improve their wearing qualities. These pieces are thick and tough and frequently verymuch distorted so that the force applied to straighten them must be considerable. In addition to the characteristics noted above, the parts vary greatly in thickness in diil'erent localities; and this variation introduces a difliculty. Most leather contains in its pores tanno-gelatine a substance which is normally quite hard but may be rendered plastic'by treatment with water. By subjecting the wet leather to suflicient pressure, as for example by pounding or rollingit, this gelatinous substance is forced more intimately into the pores of the leather so asto fill them, the leather being rendered more dense bythis treatment. The pounding or rolling, however, if accompanied by too much force, will break or in- 4 jure the fibres, of the leather and weaken it. Accordingly whenpieces of stock such as shins, necks, etc., are being operated upon some provision should be made for preventing the thicker localities from receiving too much pressure. y

According to one feature of the present invention, means are provided for equalizing the force which is appliedto the leather over the area which is being operated upon so that the thicker and thinner localities shall receive approximately the same pressure. In the illustrativemachine the pressure is applied intermittently by a hammer, the leather being held on a sectional anvil, the sections of which are supported upon a body of oil. Consequently, when a piece of leather of varying thickness is placed upon the anvil and struck by the hammer, the sections of the anvil accommodate their positions to the thickness of the leather at the points engaged.

Other features of the invention relate to mechanism for maintaining the supply of oil beneath the anvil, and to improved mechanisms for adjusting the anvil and for operating the hammer.

These and other features of the invention, including certain details of construction and combinations of parts will be described as embodied in an illustrative machine and pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is front elevation of a machine in which the present invention is embodied, and

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinalsection thereof.

The anvil comprises a plurality of plungers 3, six being shown in the illustrative machine, which are slidable in bores 5 formed in a casting 7 said bores communi cating with a chamber 9 adapted to hold a liquid such as oil. An inlet port 11 leads from a supply chamber 13 into the bottom of the chamber 9 and is controlled by a ball valve 15. The supply chamber 13 is circular in cross-section and has fitted therein a piston 17 by which liquid may be forced past the valve 15 into the chamber 9, said piston being continually reciprocated during the operation of the machine, as will presently appear. The chambers 9 and 13 are also connected by a small orifice the extent of opening of which is controlled by an adjustable valve 19. The top of each plunger is provided with a spherical socket to receive the spherical base of a cap 21, each cap being connected with its plunger bya small spring 23. When a piece of stock 1s land on the caps 21 and pounded by the hammer 25 in a manner which will presently be described, the caps are permitted to move angularly so as to accommodate their positions to irregularities in the surface and thickness of the stock. At the same time, the plun- 1 gers 3 assume vertical positions determined by the thickness of the stock at the various localities engaged by the caps. The effect of supporting the plungers on a body of liquid is to equalize, approximately uniformly over the area engaged by them, the eilect of the blows struck by the hammer. The purpose of the springs 23 is to prevent the caps 21 from falling oil the plungers at any time and to return them to normal position after the stock has been removed.

To permit raising and lowering of the sectional anvil in order to vary the amount of pressure applied to the leather, the cast ing 7 has formed on.its lower portion two wedges, one of which is shown at 27 in Fig. 2; and slidably mounted in the frame of the machine are two co-operating supporting wedges 29 connected by a bridge-piece 31. An adjusting screw 33, held from longitudinal movement with respect to the bridge piece and threaded into the frame of the machine, furnishes means for adjusting the supporting wedges 29 in and out. Each of the wedges is provided with a series of: short, substantially horizontal faces located at different levels and connected by shorter faces which are inclined at forty-five de grees to the horizontal, this construction tacilitating the adjustment of the lower wedges and ensuring that the casting 7 shall be firmly supported in adjusted position.

The piston 17 is pivoted at the lower end oi a rod 35, the upper end of which is pivoted to the inner end of a lever 37, said lever being pivoted at 39 to the casting 7 and having a spherical outer end provided. with a bore 41 through which loosely passes a connecting rod 13. The rod 13 has a fixed collar 15 and a loose collar 17 supported by a spring 19; and between the collars the spherical end of the lever 37 is received. The upper end of the connecting-rod is pivoted at 51 to the hammer 25 which is in the "form of a cross-head vertically slidable on upright standards 53. The supply chamber 13 and its piston 17 are in effect a pump which tends continually to force liquid into the chamber 9, the purpose of the spring 4-9 being to prevent possible breakage of parts in case the piston 17 is prevented at any time from making a complete downward movement. The upper partof the casting 7 has an outwardly and upwardly curved rim which forms a shallow receptacle to receive any liquid which may work up around the outsides of the plungers 3; and an overflow pipe 55 leads from this receptacle back into the, supply or piston chamber 13. In order to permit this overflow liquid to get below the piston, the walls of the chamber 13, are provided with grooves 57 which register with a groove 59 formed in. the pistoiii said la st-nanied groove having extending through to the bottom of the piston an out let port which is controlled by a suitable ball valve 61.

The hammer or cross-head 25 is connect-- ed with the stationary head 63 of the machine by two vsets of double toggles, one of these sets being shown in Fig. 2. The links 65 and 67 are pivoted respectively to the hammer at 69, to the head at 71 and to each other at 73, there being a similar set of toggle links at the other end of the crosshead or hammer 25. The links 7 5, 77 ot' the second toggle are pivoted respectively to the first toggle at 73, to the head 63 at 79 and to each other at 81. A connecting rod 32 is pivoted at its upper end to the knuckle ot the toggle levers 77 7 5 and at its lower end to a crank pin 85 carried by an eccentric disk on the driving shaft 87. There are two double sets of toggle links and two connecting rods, one double set and one connecting rod at each end of the cross-head or harmmer 25, but since the sets of links and the connecting rods are substantially alike, only one double set and one rod has been described.

1n the operation of the machine the cast ing 7 adjusted to the desired height by turning the screws 83. The leather or other stock is then laid on the tops of the caps 21 and power applied to the machine by shifting the belt (not shown) from the loose pulley 89 to the tight pulley 91. The operator then moves the stock to present all portions of it to the action of the hammer. lVith ever downward movement of the hammer the piston 17 is raised so that liq uid may flow in a small stream past the valve 19 into the chamber 13. With every upward movement of the hammer the piston 17 moved downwardly to force oil into the chamber 9 and thereby maintain it filled.

The construction which permits the operative face of the anvil to be inclined in any direction should be particularly noted, this construction ensuring that the operative r'ace of the anvil shall strike the stock squarely even though the stock may be wedge-shaped in cross-section. Hitherto an anvil has been used Which was capable of tilting in one direction or one plane only. VVith this old construction it is necessary for the operator to move the stock around on the anvil to ensure that it shall be pounded or pressed suflicientl'y since the operator cannot inspect each piece of stock and determine just how it should be placed upon the anvil to produce the best result. With applicants construction in which the operative face of the anvil is free to change its inclination in any direction, each piece of stock has the proper pressure applied to it regardless of variations in thickness oi? dii lerent localities of the stock.

filthongh the invention has been set forth as embodied in a particular machine,

liquid.

, inoi it should be understoodv that the invention is not limited in the scope of its application to the particular machine which has beenshown and described.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by LetterszPatent oi the United States is:

1. In a machine oi the class described, a sectional work-support made up of plurality of members, each of said members being constructed and ai.'i"ang;- d to vary the in c-lination 01" its upper surface in any direction, whereby the workesupport may present an undulating: surface to engage substantially throughout its entire area an uneven piece of stock placed thereupon 2. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a work supportmade up of a plurality of sections, each section being" 0011- structed and arranged to vary the inclination of its upper surta-ife to support the superimposed portion of: an uneven piece of stockplaced on the work support, means to apply:pressure to apiece of stock thereupon,

and means yieldine'ly to sustain the several sections the work support.

3; A machine of the class described, llitV- ing, in combination, a sectional anvil for supporting a piece of stock, means for hammering the stock so supported. and. means for supporting the sections of the anvil independently of one another upon a body of i. A machine of the class described, havin combination, a member which serves as a hammer, a member which serves as an anvil, one of said members co. .pi a plurality of sections, chamber having a liquid. therein, means for supporting the sections of one of said members -tor movement independently of one another upon the liquid in the chamber, and means for causing rapid reciprocation of one of said members toward and from the other,

5. A machine of the class described, haw ing, in combination, a hammer, an anvil comprising a plurality of independently movable sections, a chamber having a liquid therein, means for supporting the sections on the liquid in the chamber, and means for operating the hammer.

6. A machine of the class described, having, in combination, hammer, an anvil comprising a plurality of independently movable sections, a chamber having a liquid therein, means for supporting the sections on the liquid in the chamber, an outlet from the chamber, means for controlling the size of the outlet, and means tor operatin the h ammer.

7. A machine of the class described, hav- 1 ing, in combination, an anvil comprising a for supporting said sections whereby the level ol'any given section depends upon the thickness of the stock at the locality engaged by that section and all. localities in the stock receive substantially the me pressure.

8. A machine of the class described, hering, in combination, a chamber having a liquid therein, a plurality of bores communicatinp; with said chamber, plungers lit sourceot supply due to the impact ofthe hammer upon the stock. s q

9. A machine of the class described,hav mg, in combination, a chamberhaving a liquid therein, a plurality otbores communicating with said chamber, plungers fitting in said bores, the ends of the plungers remote from the chamber serving as sections of. an anvil, a source oi? supply of liquld outside the chamber, a hammer for pounding stock supported on said anvil, apump for towing liquid from the source of supply into the chamber, means for operating the hammer, and meansfor operating the pump. y

10. A machine of the class described, having, in combination, a work support comprising a Work engaging, member and a support-- ing member therefor, one of said members having a spherical socket to receive a spherical projection on the other member, to allow the Work-engaging member tovary the inclination of its worlcengaging surface in any direction, bringing it into parallelism with the adjacent surface of the work to be supported, and. means for applying pressure to the work.

11. A machine of the class described, hav-- porting member therefor, one of said mem:

bers having a spherical socket to receive a spherical projection on the other member, to allow the work-engaging member tova-ry the inclination of its work-engaging surface in any direction, bringing it into parallelism with the adjacent surface of the work to be supported, a spring connecting the members, and means for applying pressure to the work.

12. A machine of the class described, having, in combination, a chamber of fluid, an anvil supported by said fluid and for supporting a piece of stock, a hammer for pounding the stock, and means including a double toggle for reciprocating the hammer.

18. A machine of the class described, having, in combination, an anvil for supporting a piece 01": stock, a hammer for pounding the stock, and means for raising and lowering the anvil, said means including stepped wedges and a manually operable member for adjusting the wedges.

i 14. A machine of the class described, having, in combination, a sectional anvil for supporting a piece of stock, a hammer for pounding the stock so supported, means tor supporting the sections or the anvil for movement independently of one another upon a body of liquid, andmeans for replenishing the liquid 15. A machine of the class described, having, in combination, a chamber of fluid, a pressing member and a work support sustained by the fluid in said chamber and con structed and arranged to permit its workcontacting face to be tilted in any direction when pressure is applied to a piece of work placed upon it.

16. A machine of the class described, having, in combination, a pressing member, a

group of work supports and means for permitting the work supports, individually to accommodate the operative faces thereof in any direction when pressure is applied by the pressing member to a piece or work of varying thickness positioned upon thework support. I

17. A pounding machine, having in combination, a hammer, means for reciprocating the hammer, an anvil composed of sections which engage the work at different localities, and means including a fluid body upon which the sections are supported for movement independently of one another for equalizing the force of the blows of the hammer at the various points supported by the sections of the anvil.

18. A. machine of the class described, havmg In combination, an anvil comprising a plurality of independent sections, means for applying pressure to a piece of stock placed on the sections, a body of liquid in contact with said sections and upon which the sections are supported, and a chamber to conline the liquid so that depressing one section tends to raise another.

19. A leather straightening machine having, in combination, a support for stock to be operated upon, comprising a stock engaging member and a sumaorting member there for, one of said members having a spherical socket to receive a spherical portion of the other member, a spring connecting the members, and means for applying pressureto the stock.

20. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a chamber of fluid, a pressing member, and a work support supported by the fluid in said chamber and constructed and arranged to permit its work contacting face to be ti ted in any direction when pressure is applied to a piece of stock placed thereon.

21. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a pressing member, a group of work supports, and means for permitting the work supports individually to tilt their work supporting faces in any direction when pressure is applied by the pressing member to a piece of work of'varymg thickness positioned upon the work support.

In testimony whereof I have signed myv name to this specification.

JOHN B. HADAWAY. 

